Good news! The next time you go to wire your life savings to a prince from the country of New Africa that needs your help to claim his thousand million dollar inheritance, Western Union may not let you. As a result of a joint Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission prosecution, Western Union not only has to pay over half a billion dollars to the feds, they must implement new policies to safeguard consumers from getting scammed.

As part of the settlement, Western Union admits guilt to the criminal violations of “willfully failing to maintain an effective money laundering program and aiding and abetting wire fraud.” These crimes are related to scammers, confidence artists, and organized crime utilizing Western Union to perpetrate financial crimes. The money collected by the feds will be made available to the victims of fraud that have sent money via Western Union.

Western Union achieved notoriety as a result of the telegram business. Back before the telephone was a convenience to be taken for granted, the telegram was among the fastest methods of communication.

New Safeguards From Money-Sending Scams

Because of the way Western Union operates, allowing individuals to send money worldwide nearly instantly without ID or verification, scammers will frequently ask their victims to pay via Western Union.

In addition to the large financial penalty, Western Union has agreed to implement new policies designed to prevent consumers from sending money to scammers. Some of the policies include:

  • Stopping wire transfers if they know or should know that the transfer is fraud induced.
  • Block all transfers to individuals that are the subject of a fraud report.
  • Increase availability of fraud reporting phone numbers and websites.
  • Refund monies that are transferred due to fraud if the company failed to comply with its anti-fraud procedures for the particular transaction.

While Western Union can’t save all consumers from scammers, the new policies will go a long way in reducing the number of consumers that get scammed.

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  • Man Arrested for Selling Someone Else’s Home on Craigslist (FindLaw’s Legally Weird)
  • Online Puppy Scams On the Rise, Ohio Atty. Gen. Warns (FindLaw’s Common Law)

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